Protests in Hong Kong are getting serious.
For a second straight day, demonstrators clashed with police officers at the Hong Kong International Airport on Tuesday, resulting in the cancellation of hundreds of flights.
Protestors and police in riot gear and wielding batons locked horns, as throngs blocked the gates to the security and immigration areas, in scenes that have played out in Hong Kong over the past 10 weeks.
Although the U.S. markets were shaking off political implications of the conflict to head sharply higher on news of progress between the U.S. and China on trade, developments in Hong Kong, a major financial hub in Asia, could eventually rattle markets if problems there intensify.
Read: How Hong Kong clashes could wallop the U.S. stock market
Here are a few images and videos underscoring the intensity of clashes between demonstrators and police:
One video shows police entering the airport in force:
Another shows a man apparently being arrested by police who are decked out in body armor and protective gear.
Another video shows a police officer getting his baton taken and used against him. Subsequently, the officers appears to draw his weapon.
A separate video via Sky News shows a throng of demonstrators detaining a man they believe to be an undercover police officer:
Here’s a live feed of the protests via YouTube:
The Hong Kong Hang Seng HSI, -2.10% tumbled 2.1% on Tuesday and is down 9% so far in August and off 11.5% over the past three months, according to FactSet data. The exchange traded iShares MSCI Hong Kong ETF EWH, +0.87%, one of the most popular funds used to gain exposure to Hong Kong stocks, was down 3.2% in Monday but was up 1.2% on Tuesday. The ETF has fallen 8.3% so far in August and 8.6% over the past 90 days.
Meanwhile, U.S. markets were soaring on news of a delay of some consumer-related China import duties. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +1.58%, the S&P 500 index SPX, +1.59% and the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +2.00% were jumping sharply higher.